While doing some 3d programming in Python, for FiniteDreams, I was trying to rotate an object from whichever direction that it is currently facing, toward a new desired direction. I’m only really concerned with “heading“, or “yaw“, which does the side-to-side sweeping in a Z-up coordinate system.

I have a velocity vector built each frame, influenced by whichever combination of directional movement keys are being held. In order to get my character (or any object with such velocity) to gradually point in the right direction, I had to convert the directional velocity vector into some “heading” value:

Next, I have to find the shortest angle between where my current angle is, and where I want to go. There’s no sense making my character turn 300 degrees clockwise if he only has to move 60 degrees counter-clockwise:

And voila. Now you’ve got the angle in the range [-180,180], acording to the direction that the object needs to rotate to get to it’s desired heading.

But, we don’t just want to instantly make the character face that direction. Instead, s/he needs to gradually turn there. The advantage that we now have is that we have already calculated an angle that needs to be traveled. All that remains to do is move the character toward it each frame:

Note that I’ve used the “self” syntax this time around, since I’m getting more specific to the panda3d code. The “self” variables are persistent in a class object; the context of this code is a panda3d “task“, which is a method that gets executed each frame. Thus, I need to retain certain of my calculations. In this case, I need to remember that “shortestAngle” variable, so that each frame can move closer and closer towards it.

The first line takes the character’s speed into account, so that I can have a big fat character turn more slowly than a thin one. The “elapsedTime” variable is the total time elapsed since the end of the last frame (which I’ve calculated myself). This regulates the speed at which things happen. If I do not include this variable, the game would run at terrifyingly unpredictable speeds on different computers, depending on the hardware.

Line 2 subtracts the distance that we want to move this frame, from total angle that we would like to move towards.

Line 3 actually performs the rotation. This line does not make a smooth movement out of my new angle, which is why I’m calculating a “movementThisFrame” variable, which is quite small compared to the total angle. Since it is small, line 3 doesn’t have the visual effect of being choppy or chunky.

Also important is to remember to reduce down the degree of rotation that the character is currently in. Even though the target angle is reduced, adding an angle of 178 degrees to an existing angle of 164 will add up to 342 degrees of rotation. The model will still be pointing the right direction, but to stop from winding dozens of times into higher and higher angle numbers, this should be reduced via the same angle-checking method used above, for the “shortestAngle” snippet, two code blocks above. The only difference would be to use “characterNodePath.setH(characterNodePath.getH() +/- 360)” If done every frame, the character will always appear to move and point in the right direction.

As one last note, I’ve made a “if” test on the remaining “self.shortestAngle” variable, so that if the remaining angle distance to be covered is less than 0.05 then I just zero it out.

I’ve recently taken on some 3d programming with a set of libraries called “panda3d“. They’re quite nice, and I’ve been impressed with it all so far. The main interfacing language is Python, although many of the libraries themselves are written in C++, for speed’s sake.

Ever since (about) highschool, I had this vision of creating my own RPG. Originally, my naive idea was to make a sequel to the beloved SNES game Chrono Trigger, but then it hit me one that day that…

A) I’d be an idiot for trying to make a “sequel” to a copyrighted video game produced by a largely successful company based out of Japan

B) I felt silly for trying to be “new” and “on the edge of discovery” while only (at best) attempting to extend the ideas of a genius other than I.

While all of the above sound pretty similar in nature, all three hit me differently, and I ultimately decided to completely redo the “story” that I had invented. I had been drawing characters for use in the game for a long time, yet I still decided that even those needed a make over.

And over the next 3 years, the idea for Finite Dreams (FD) had been in the making. (The name is kind of tentative, since I came up with it a while back, and I don’t think that I like it much anymore.) Games from all over the spectrum (a few of the more relevant examples: Kingdom Hearts, Dark Cloud 2, and Final Fantasy XII) had developed ideas at the same time as myself, and I constantly found myself playing a brand new game that had come up with my ideas before I had. *grr*

But now, I’m creating “my” game. I’m not recreating someone else’s ideas, or implamenting them differently, or even doing them “better” than in some other game. I’m making my own ideas, and it’s coming along nicely… Unfortunately for me, I had to begin learning Python, but now I love it. It makes me *hate* Java all the more. *shudder* ooooOoooOOOo, Java, how I loathe you. But the guys at work hear me rant enough about Java, so I shan’t do it here.

I’ll be sure to post some actual content eventually. For now, I’m getting the engine up and running. While I’m a one-man team, I do hope to make some good progress, even if it takes me ages. I’m an artist, muscian, programmer, modeler, and storywriter, all wrapped up into one. I love every single one of those elements. I can’t wait to hit every milestone along the way.